19 NOVEMBER 2018

Ellis Wins Dogfight With Brooker

pic Tom Casino/Showtime

By Marc Livitz: In the evening’s co-main event at Ballys in Atlantic City, Ronald Ellis boxed and briefly brawled his way to a unanimous decision win over Christopher Brooker in an eight round, super middleweight clash. He remains undefeated.

Ellis (14-0-1, 10 KO’s) connected with an overhand right early in the first round and was certainly the aggressor through the opening minute. Brief exchanges and close-in contact was much the story thereafter. Brooker (11-3, 5 KO’s) pushed the action in parts of the second and tried to entice Ronald into a slugfest, who himself kept a high guard and utilized an accurate left jab. Ellis landed a short, compact body shot in the closing minute which seemed to awaken his Philadelphia opponent. "Ice Cold" Brooker used various tactics to commence the third, such as arm punches and tie ups. Many of his shots were thrown wide and he’d often return to a squared up position which allowed "Flat Line" Ellis to answer with his jab. Ronald’s best shot of the bout up to the minute landed just inside the fourth. An overhand right broke Brooker’s minimal defense and he followed this with a nice combination upstairs and to the body.

As the contest passed its midway point, the story became even clearer. Chris Brooker was looking to turn the fight into a rough, entangled brawl. Few shots of note were landed in round five. Ellis may have bought into the strategy just a bit. The Lynn, Massachusetts combatant would need to go back to what was working for him. Brooker came out aggressive to begin the sixth and tried to jump back into the bout. He moved in close but didn’t have much power in his punches and Ellis answered with multiple unanswered shots.

The story was much the same in the following period. Ronald used his jab and did his best to avoid Christopher’s wildly swung attempts. The bout moved to the eighth and final three minutes.

Brooker seemed to know his chances for a decision win had likely faded. He looked to land one meaningful punch to end the night. Ellis didn’t fall for any of it and continued to make his foe chase him and walk into jabs. The bell rang to end matters and to the observing eye, Ronald Ellis appeared to have earned a clear, unanimous win even with the large cut which opened above his right eye in the dying moments of the eighth. The ringside judges turned in the following scores: 77-75 and two at 79-73 to award the victory to Ronald "Flatline" Ellis.